Hope Like Clay
by foxface15
Summary: The Doctor and Clara find themselves running from creatures not unlike the Flesh. Just one thing doesn't quite make sense, though; who is this young girl Brooke, and how did she get herself into this situation as well? Inspired by a dream. Complete for now, unless someone wants me to continue.


They ran through the hallways, with strange humanoid creatures making heavy sloshing footsteps behind them.

There were about ten people running through the strange building, all trying to escape their attackers.

The Doctor pulled Clara and another younger girl, he thought she said that her name was Brooke, around a corner and they stood still as the rest of the people, most of whom were soldiers, guarded the hallway.

"What are they?" Brooke asked, fear lighting up in her pale eyes.

"They appear like humans," The Doctor said, turning to look at the young girl. He had already noticed that she was different from the others. More insightful, more willing to accept the impossible. He liked her. "But their insides are completely putty-like." He continued.

"How do we fight them?" Clara asked, and the Doctor turned to her.

"Knock their heads off." He said resentfully. He didn't like the idea of decapitation. "Either that or a direct blow to the heart. It's the only way to cut off their connection."

The Doctor stood up and walked up to the soldier in charge, leaving Clara and Brooke to talk quietly. He had something on his mind. He and Clara had arrived in the TARDIS, but he didn't know how Brooke had gotten into such a situation.

He tapped the soldier on the shoulder, and he turned to face him with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes?" He asked.

"How exactly did a sixteen year old girl get herself into a place like this?" The Doctor asked, nodding his head towards where Clara and Brooke were sitting.

The soldier looked over the Doctor's soldier to look at the two girls. He brought his gaze back up to the Doctor's.

"I don't know." He replied. "We were doing a check through for survivors and we came upon her. Why she was here in the first place we have no clue." He answered.

Suddenly the footsteps became louder and a soldier turned to face everyone. "Here." He said, retrieving a bag off of his back. He reached inside, pulling out three daggers. "Take these."

The Doctor blatantly refused, stating against that he didn't believe in the use of weapons, and Clara followed his example. But Brooke hesitantly took one of the odd shaped white daggers from the soldiers urgent hand.

"We need to move." One of the soldiers said, and the group began to move backwards down the hallway.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps coming from the opposite direction.

"Hurry!" Another soldier yelled, and they pushed down an adjacent hallway. As they backed away, they could see the strange human-like figures coming down the hallway towards them.

A man stepped around the corner and the group stared at him. He appeared normal, with black curly hair and a pair of black glasses on.  
Everything about him was utterly human, except for the distinct glazed look in his eyes.

"Don't let them touch you!" The Doctor urged, holding Clara and Brooke behind him.

The soldiers advanced and began to shoot, but the man didn't appear to be damaged in any way. His body morphed around the bullets and they slammed into the wall behind him. More of the humanoid figures appeared behind him.

A soldier ran forwards and stabbed the man in the head with a knife. With a rough tearing noise, the mans head began to leak a steely grey liquid down his face. The man collapsed to the ground and the liquid began to spread around him.

Another woman with dirty blonde hair came from behind the man's fallen body and another soldier ran forward at her. He thrust his knife at her face, but her arm snapped up and took the blow. Her arm literally caved in on itself, like it molded itself to the knifes shape, and the knife stayed there.

Her other arm shot up to snatch the man by his throat, and he dangled helplessly under her incredible strength. Everyone else seemed to freeze. His body went limp, and the woman dropped him lifelessly to the floor, where he landed in the fallen monster's steely blood. The sound of his body where he had touched the liquid as it sizzled through his flesh shook everyone to the core, and they snapped into action.

"Get back!" A soldier screamed, and the Doctor opened an office door behind him and guided everyone through.

Once everyone was in the office the Doctor turned and locked the door behind him, and some of the soldiers moved a large cabinet in front of the door.

The head soldier brought out a walkie-talkie and held it up to his ear, whispering urgently into it. The Doctor went to sit down, and Brooke and Clara also sat down. Brooke had her dagger that the soldier had given her out, and was carefully inspecting it.

"Base says that backup is on the way!" The soldier suddenly exclaimed, causing Brooke to drop her dagger onto her leg. As she went to pick it up, she noticed that a small dent was left in her leg. She prodded harder into the strange spot, and her entire leg seemed to go inwards.

She remembered how the monsters outside molded around the soldiers attack, and looking at her leg, inwardly screamed as she realized that she was one of them. Wouldn't she have known? She started to breathe faster, staring at her dented leg, as she came to the assumption that she had to die. There was no other way out. She knew that she was a monster. And that she. Must. Die.

She looked around, wondering if anyone else had noticed her making a life changing discovery, and was relieved that no one saw. She told herself that she would do it later, silently, when no one was around. If these soldiers had known that she was a monster, then they would have her killed on the spot.

Part of her was wondering if there was a cure. If anyone would save her. She looked at the man who had introduced himself as Doctor, wouldn't he be able to save her if he really was a doctor?

But that part was only small in comparison to the overwhelming feeling that she had to die. Brooke didn't think that there was any other way out.

She thought about all of this for a long time, so long in fact that the backup had arrived and was in the process of taking down the remaining monsters. The soldiers moved the heavy cabinet that they had used to barricade the door, and when they stepped into the hallway again they were greeted by the faces of their fellow soldiers.

Everyone cleared out, glad to leave the small confined room.

"We'll, not as adventurous as normally," The Doctor said, addressing Clara, "But still full of excitement nonetheless.

Clara left the room, following the soldiers, and the Doctor turned to Brooke, who had gotten up, dagger still I'm hand. The Doctor's words rang through her mind;_ Knock their heads off...either that or a direct blow to the heart. It's the only way to cut off their connection._

"Are you coming?" The Doctor asked with a cheeky grin. He noticed her solemn expression. "Brooke whats wrong?" He asked.

"I'm one of them." She said quietly, meeting his gaze.

"What?" The Doctor asked.

Brooke pointed at her still dented leg. "I didn't know. But I'm one of them."

The Doctor stared at her for a moment, glancing down at her leg which was molded in and obviously identified her as one of the humanoid putty monsters.

"You didn't know?" He asked softly. _How did she not know that she was a monster?_

She simply shook her head, and that's when he noticed that the dagger in her hand was twitching upwards.

"Brooke," he said, holding his hand up. She looked up at him, but her hand with the sharp dagger remained in its position about halfway between her waist and her chest. "You don't have to do that."

She stood expressionless, like the life had drained out of her face. Like she had lost the will to live. "It's the only way." She stated. "I could hurt someone."

"Just _look_ at you, will you?!" The Doctor said, "You're so human. You are not a monster. Please, Brooke." He pleaded.

"There's no other way." Brooke replied solemnly, bringing the dagger up in front of her chest. A direct blow to the heart.

"We'll find a cure!" The Doctor said, lurching forward just as Brooke brought the dagger down.

He was too late. The Doctor caught Brooke and gently cradled her as she fell, slowly to the floor. He held her against him, trying to preserve the warmth that she had left.

Her gentle eyes looked up at him through a cloudy expression, and a pained smile crossed her lips as she gazed into his old eyes. Then she faded away.

He had barely known her. And he had already lost her.

Brooke; the girl that he liked.

The Doctor sat silently, looking at the young face before him. Something didn't make sense.

The last time he had faced something that was similar to these kinds of monsters, they had simply been doppelgängers of a real person.

He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and scanned it over Brooke's lifeless body. It beeped with results, and the Doctor smiled. They were the same. The _exact_ same.

Which meant that the real Brooke was still out there.

So the Doctor got up, leaving the body in the middle of the office floor. And he walked away to find Clara and head back to the TARDIS.

And to go and find the girl he liked.


End file.
